One Solution to Sequestration: Slash Tens of Thousands of Defense Jobs

May 30, 2013

The Defense Department could manage long-term budget cuts from sequestration by massively reducing its civilian workforce, according to teams of analysts from Washington-based think tanks.

The teams came up with their solutions to the across-the-board spending cuts during a shadow budget review organized by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and held on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon. CSBA’s simulation directed the analysts to choose specific programs to maintain or cut based on full sequestration -- a $522 billion budget reduction through fiscal 2023 -- and about half that figure ($247 billion) in the same timeframe.

The four participating organizations -- the American Enterprise Institute; the Center for a New American Security; the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and CSBA -- all said that Defense could reduce its workforce by tens of thousands through the next decade under both budget scenarios while continuing to focus its resources on key priorities like cyber warfare and the pivot to Asia.